About StraitTraffic

StraitTraffic is an independent monitoring service for the world’s key maritime chokepoints. It watches the straits and canals that global trade depends on and turns raw ship-tracking signals into a few numbers anyone can read: how many vessels are in the strait right now, how many completed a passage in the last 24 hours and 7 days, in which direction, of what type, and whether that is a normal level of traffic.

Why it exists

When something happens near the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea or the Suez Canal, the first question is always the same: is shipping still moving? Live maps show dots, but a dot cannot answer that question. StraitTraffic counts actual transits, keeps its own day-by-day history from the moment monitoring starts, and compares today with the strait’s own recent average, so a disruption shows up as a number, not a guess.

What it covers

• Strait of Hormuz
• Bab el-Mandeb Strait
• Suez Canal
• Strait of Malacca
• Bosporus Strait

The service is built so that new straits, canals and passages can be added as data, without changing how the product works. Suggestions for additional chokepoints are welcome.

What it is not

StraitTraffic is not a navigation system and not an official source. Its figures are derived from public AIS broadcasts that can be delayed, incomplete or switched off, and they should be read as an indicator of activity, not as an authoritative count. See the methodology page for details.